Owners of high-rises are urged to get cladding checked out
A CONSTRUCTION expert has called on owners of private and commercial high-rise buildings in Wales to get their cladding tested following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Housing associations and councils have been ordered in England, and urged in Wales, to get their cladding tested at the UK’s official fire safety facilities.
Yet private owners have not been instructed to do so – even though the Prime Minister has said they can send in samples and get the results within hours.
Premier Inn has already come forward to say it is concerned about the cladding on three of its hotels but its situation is believed to be far from unique.
The latest call came as it yesterday emerged:
Manslaughter charges are being considered by detectives investigating the blaze as it emerged the structure had failed fire safety tests;
Police said a faulty Hotpoint FF175BP fridge-freezer started the inferno, which has killed at least 79 people;
Cladding and insulation encasing the building did not pass any fire safety tests, police added, increasing concern the 24-storey block’s facade accelerated the blaze’s spread; and
A nationwide hunt for high-rise buildings with flammable cladding continues, with thousands of people finding their homes were potentially dangerous.
Matthew Needham-Laing, head of construction at Katten Law UK, has urged private and commercial owners to make sure all cladding is tested in order to make sure it is safe.
He said: “Do it. They have got a responsibility under the Fire Regulatory Order to carry out a proper risk assessment.
“It’s very much in the public eye and is a particular issue at the moment.
“This doesn’t just apply to social buildings but all sorts of buildings. They should be testing their cladding to make sure it’s not flammable and if it is they need to make the necessary protections.”
The facility used by the UK Government to test cladding on tower blocks is run by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), which is also open to owners of private and commercial buildings.
In her statement to MPs yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May said all landlords could send in samples to be tested in the government’s official facilities.
She said: “We can test more than 100 buildings a day, and the results come within hours.
“I urge any landlord who owns a building of this kind to send samples for testing as soon as possible. Any results will be communicated immediately to local authorities and local fire services.
“Landlords have a legal obligation to provide safe buildings. Where they cannot do that, we expect alternative accommodation to be provided. We cannot and will not ask people to live in unsafe homes.”
The tests on tower blocks so far have found 14 residential high-rise buildings in nine council areas in England that have cladding that has raised safety concerns.
The Welsh Government has said initial inspections suggested there are no tower blocks with that type of cladding in Wales but it has urged social landlords in Wales to get their cladding tested.
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “We are in regular contact with all residential social landlords in Wales and are urging them to have samples from relevant tower blocks tested – using the same process and facility described by the Prime Minister in her statement.”
An expert group is being set up in Wales to ensure fire safety at tower blocks.
The Welsh Government’s minister for communities, Carl Sergeant, said that the group would include representatives from the social housing and fire sectors and will be chaired by his chief fire adviser.
In a statement to AMs, Cabinet Secretary Mr Sargeant said none of the 36 blocks of flats of seven or more stories owned by councils or housing associations in Wales appeared to have been fitted with the type of cladding used at Grenfell Tower.